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No major Thorian callback. I got an e-mail from Shiala that basically said that, "I think I'm still indoctrinated, but me and the Feros crew are still kicking Reaper ass because of what the Thorian did to us."

...

WHY ARE WE NOT STUDYING THIS EFFECT? Indoctrination is one of the most powerful tools the Reapers have; it's way more important than their Thanix cannons. So hey, let's just not try to counter it. Just to be fair to the godlike genocide monsters.

I really don't want to get back into the endgame fight, but they said that in certain builds, they had Shepard fighting indoctrination... the Thorian gave them an out.

But the whole plot hook was just left hanging on the wall. One of my larger complaints. I wonder if Drew K had intended to use it that way.

Because everyone is stupid. Seriously, I don't know how no one thought to record video of the suicide run in ME2 just so Shepard could say, "Look, even if you don't believe in the idea of a reaper threat, can't we all agree that this is fucking scary and that we should all be preparing for it right now?"

Heck, EDI gives analysis and commentary throughout the mission, so obviously there must be some sort of sensor feed going directly from the crew to the ship. And since that information is being analyzed by EDI, it must be in storage somewhere.

Shepard knew the council was sitting on their asses that entire game in denial. How in the world did "Collect evidence that Reapers are real" not become part of the mission?

STG has been studying this shit since Virmire. The Salarian military stole the Reaper IFF to build stealth dreadnoughts.

Special Tasks Group. They get shit done.

Wait, like the Reaper IFF Shepard got?

When did that happen?

Salarian First Fleet:

The salarian navy accepts nothing less than bleeding-edge technology in every single vessel. Military observers were puzzled and not a little suspicious when the salarians slowed down dreadnought production, building fewer ships than legally permitted under the Treaty of Farixen. The answer lies in the complexity of their construction. Acting on orders from Sur'Kesh, STG agents procured schematics of the SSV Normandy's stealth systems and the algorithms behind the Normandy SR-2's Reaper IFF signal. Months of research yielded something previously unthinkable--dreadnoughts with stealth capabilities. The salarians expect the Reapers to break through the dreadnought's electronic countermeasures eventually, but until then, they have a crucial advantage against their monstrous enemies.

Basically, the whole point of his character is that he's what the Illusive Man used to try to replace Shepard. Like Shepard, he's part synthetic, and if I understand it correctly he's more enhanced than Shepard was. He's designed to look cool, like a JRPG or Deus Ex character and he carries a bad-ass sword. He's supposed to be Shepard 2.0. Despite that, he doesn't hold a candle to the real deal. He loses a fight to Thane, he's getting torn apart by Shepard before the gunship intervenes, and the one time he and Shepard really go toe-to-toe without an opportunity on his part to escape, in the Cerberus base, Shepard destroys him.

So I went and did a silly thing. I wasted a bunch of what would have otherwise been productive time making a Redlettermedia-style review of the ending. Here it be (spoilers for all three games):

I didn't watch too much into it yet, but +1,000,000 for not overlaying yourself over the media like an attention-starved camwhore, flailing your arms around as you gripe resulting in attention being distractingly drawn away from the actual content you're reviewing and onto you for no justifiable reason.

Basically, the whole point of his character is that he's what the Illusive Man used to try to replace Shepard. Like Shepard, he's part synthetic, and if I understand it correctly he's more enhanced than Shepard was. He's designed to look cool, like a JRPG or Deus Ex character and he carries a bad-ass sword. He's supposed to be Shepard 2.0. Despite that, he doesn't hold a candle to the real deal. He loses a fight to Thane, he's getting torn apart by Shepard before the gunship intervenes, and the one time he and Shepard really go toe-to-toe without an opportunity on his part to escape, in the Cerberus base, Shepard destroys him.

If Shepard didn't stop the Reapers, then the idea of giving the Yahg 50,000 years to evolve would have been absolutely terrifying, and they would have probably ended the Reaper menace on their own. Along with the entire galaxy.

So where does it say the Salarians are building stealth dreadnaughts? I feel like I missed something important!

Well apparently you don't get that text unless you

Sabotage the genophage cure. So you never read that text because you are not a monster.

What's interesting is if you kill Wrex and destroy the data.

Then you can get Krogan support, get Salarian support, and keep Mordin alive, and have Mordin help on the crucible. Yeah, the Krogan race is doomed to extinction, but since Wreav is in charge, who cares.

Of course, it'll all go to hell in a few thousand years when the genophage wears off and the Krogan are pissed as hell.

So where does it say the Salarians are building stealth dreadnaughts? I feel like I missed something important!

Well apparently you don't get that text unless you

Sabotage the genophage cure. So you never read that text because you are not a monster.

What's interesting is if you kill Wrex and destroy the data.

Then you can get Krogan support, get Salarian support, and keep Mordin alive, and have Mordin help on the crucible. Yeah, the Krogan race is doomed to extinction, but since Wreav is in charge, who cares.

Of course, it'll all go to hell in a few thousand years when the genophage wears off and the Krogan are pissed as hell.

By then, judging from their recent pace, the Salarians will have their own completely loyal Reapers long before that.

So I went and did a silly thing. I wasted a bunch of what would have otherwise been productive time making a Redlettermedia-style review of the ending. Here it be (spoilers for all three games):

I didn't watch too much into it yet, but +1,000,000 for not overlaying yourself over the media like an attention-starved camwhore, flailing your arms around as you gripe resulting in attention being distractingly drawn away from the actual content you're reviewing and onto you for no justifiable reason.

....er, I mean, good effort!

I'm watching the first minute, and it seems like he's trying too hard to copy RedLetterMedia.

i love my human vanguard. it's awesome for its pure destructive force and dynamic playstyle, but i wanted to see what the other vanguard races had to offer.

drell vanguard is too squishy for my tastes, so i turned to the Asari.

I had an idea that since the Scorpion has a handy area-stagger, it might make an asari vanguard viable on silver+, while still being quite aggressive.

The Build:

max Charge for targets hit, weapon damage, and full barrier recharge
max Stasis for whatever you want - it's just there as a support skill for phantoms/rezzing teammates/etc.
max Asari Justicar for weapon capacity, power damage, and decreased heavy pistol weight
max Fitness for health and shields, ignoring the melee bonuses

The Weapon:

This build is entirely dependent on the staggering and AoE damage capabilities of the Scorpion heavy pistol. All you need is level 1, but if you've got higher that's even better. Slot extended barrel V and increased magazine V.

The Playstyle:

Pick a cluster of enemies without a boss-type in it. fire 3 to 4 shots into the group, then charge. the delay on the scorpion detonation usually means that the shots will explode as you impact the target. from there, fire as many shots as possible at the enemies that are currently shooting at you. shielded or not, they WILL stop firing and enter a stun animation as soon as they're hit by the projectiles. this is your ticket to survival.

keep firing and charging when necessary and you'll keep the entire group off-balance - hence the name Asari Staggerguard. this build doesn't kill as fast as a novaguard, but it's great for synergizing with teammates, and it's SUPERB at breaking up geth hunter/pyro groups.

if you've got the weapon and the class, give it a whirl and tell me what you think.

I don't have a problem with the Reapers in ME1 and 2. I have a problem with ME3 dumbing the Reapers down.

Same thing with Cerberus, ME2 gave them some depth but ME3 erased all that progress and turned them back into generic villains.

There were a lot of things in ME2 that were great, I'm not denying that. My problem is with how they made the main story, the suicide mission against the Collectors, essentially pointless. With the Empire Strikes Back, the story of Luke training to be a Jedi under Yoda and his battle with Vader are very important to the overall story of the series. Without that, there can be no Return of the Jedi.

I largely agree with you re: ME2, so let's just get that out of the way.

That said, ME2 sent Shepard from Badass Protagonist to unstoppable juggernaut of destruction Protagonist. It also put Tali in a position to lead the fleet (or not), made Garrus a badass in his own right, turned Liara into the Shadowbroker, showed Miranda separating from Cerberus, introduced a shitload of backstory for a shitload of characters (all of whom play their own parts in ME3, most small, granted), introduced The Illusive Man as a character and Cerberus as more than just a rogue Alliance operation that's meaningless, showed the Council was largely just twiddling their thumbs despite Sovereign's assault on the Citadel, and left Shepard with a ship and a large, competent crew that was willing to storm the gates of hell at her side

So...when I stop to think about it, there actually was quite a bit going on. It just didn't feel like much because the overall plot arc wasn't as directed as in ME1, and it was all in the process of gathering the team.

edit: take out ME2 and the squadmate landscape changes considerably, as does the strength of Shepard's competence field.

And all that is diminished when you put it into context with Mass Effect 3, especially how they broke the squad apart. Even if the Collectors weren't important, the main story could still have been significant if the team stayed together.

Watch the ending of ME2:

Especially the last minute. Doesn't that kind of imply that everyone was making preparations for the war against the Reapers? It just doesn't make any sense to just throw that away.

So I went and did a silly thing. I wasted a bunch of what would have otherwise been productive time making a Redlettermedia-style review of the ending. Here it be (spoilers for all three games):

I didn't watch too much into it yet, but +1,000,000 for not overlaying yourself over the media like an attention-starved camwhore, flailing your arms around as you gripe resulting in attention being distractingly drawn away from the actual content you're reviewing and onto you for no justifiable reason.

....er, I mean, good effort!

I'm watching the first minute, and it seems like he's trying too hard to copy RedLetterMedia.

Well, he did say "RedLetterMedia-style" so I wasn't necessarily expecting "new and exciting content".

Edit: upon watching the video further, he actually does bring up a lot of good points and I do suggest watching it.

So where does it say the Salarians are building stealth dreadnaughts? I feel like I missed something important!

Well apparently you don't get that text unless you

Sabotage the genophage cure. So you never read that text because you are not a monster.

What's interesting is if you kill Wrex and destroy the data.

Then you can get Krogan support, get Salarian support, and keep Mordin alive, and have Mordin help on the crucible. Yeah, the Krogan race is doomed to extinction, but since Wreav is in charge, who cares.

Of course, it'll all go to hell in a few thousand years when the genophage wears off and the Krogan are pissed as hell.

I really don't get how the Krogan are doomed to extinction with the genophage. Because Wrex said so? He's wrong. In ME3, the game states a few things.

One, there are over 10 billion Krogan currently alive, that's not a little bit.

Two, Krogan can have 1000 children a year. The genophage makes 1 in 1000 births not carry to term. So, on average, one baby per year per Krogan female. That's pretty similar to Earth standard of reproduction.

Three, Mordin himself in ME2 states that the genophage is designed not to make the Krogan extinct, but to slow down their breeding to allow for advances in technology that allow them to breed unchecked.

That being said, Mordin isn't curing the genphage because it's logical, it's because he feels guilty about how it works. The Krogan females carry their stillborn children to birth and, on average, have 999 stillborns a year. Mordin did not change his mind until after building a relationship with Eve. In ME3, she speaks to Shepard about how she felt after her first stillborn. Mordin looked at the genophage from a pure logical perspective before Eve made him realize how the Krogan women felt (don't forget he's a Salarian, different breeding styles).

Discounting the ethics of forcing stillborns on a race for a moment, the Krogan were never in any danger of going extinct based on the genophage. Their dwindling numbers, if you can call it that, are a social problem, not a reproduciton problem. Wrex in ME1 does state that many Krogan become mercenaries because it allows them to vent their frustration and hopelessness about their racial predicament.

For me, curing the genophage is not an option. The armies in ME3 only have the capacity to fight the Reapers for one year before the infrastructure collapses (a Shadow Broker email intercept in game). So that means, even if fully cured, there is no possible way curing the genophage will be able to contribute anything to the war besides moral to the Krogan. So curing it gives two things based on winning or losing. If the Repear war is won, you now have a fully cured Krogan spread through out a galaxy that lost significan military and infrastructure. There is also no fucking way for a second that I believe Wrex and Eve can control 10 billion Krogan. So winning the war will most likely lead to another Krogan rebellion without adding a single tangible resource to the Reaper war. Second, if they lose the war and are cured....well, congradulations. You just added a few billion babies to get killed by the reapers.

So yeah, I killed Mording and lied to the Krogan about being cured so I could get their help. Then when Wrex confronted me about cheating him and he threatened to pull the Krogan? I killed him too. But guess what? He should have recalled his forces before he confronted me, because he died before he could follow through on his thrreat. In the end, I got the Krogan to help me on Earth (led by Grunt who if you belive him from ME2, likes the genophage) and tricked them into thinking they are cured.

Yes I am a monster.

Mild Confusion on March 2012

Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.

So where does it say the Salarians are building stealth dreadnaughts? I feel like I missed something important!

Well apparently you don't get that text unless you

Sabotage the genophage cure. So you never read that text because you are not a monster.

What's interesting is if you kill Wrex and destroy the data.

Then you can get Krogan support, get Salarian support, and keep Mordin alive, and have Mordin help on the crucible. Yeah, the Krogan race is doomed to extinction, but since Wreav is in charge, who cares.

Of course, it'll all go to hell in a few thousand years when the genophage wears off and the Krogan are pissed as hell.

I really don't get how the Krogan are doomed to extinction with the genophage. Because Wrex said so? He's wrong. In ME3, the game states a few things.

One, there are over 10 billion Krogan currently alive, that's not a little bit.

Two, Krogan can have 1000 children a year. The genophage makes 1 in 1000 births not carry to term. So, on average, one baby per year per Krogan female. That's pretty similar to Earth standard of reproduction.

Three, Mordin himself in ME2 states that the genophage is designed not to make the Krogan extinct, but to slow down their breeding to allow for advances in technology that allow them to breed unchecked.

That being said, Mordin isn't curing the genphage because it's logical, it's because he feels guilty about how it works. The Krogan females carry their stillborn children to birth and, on average, have 999 stillborns a year. Mordin did not change his mind until after building a relationship with Eve. In ME3, she speaks to Shepard about how she felt after her first stillborn. Mordin looked at the genophage from a pure logical perspective before Eve made him realize how the Krogan women felt (don't forget he's a Salarian, different breeding styles).

Discounting the ethics of forcing stillborns on a race for a moment, the Krogan were never in any danger of going extinct based on the genophage. Their dwindling numbers, if you can call it that, are a social problem, not a reproduciton problem. Wrex in ME1 does state that many Krogan become mercenaries because it allows them to vent their frustration and hopelessness about their racial predicament.

For me, curing the genophage is not an option. The armies in ME3 only have the capacity to fight the Reapers for one year before the infrastructure collapses (a Shadow Broker email intercept in game). So that means, even if fully cured, there is no possible way curing the genophage will be able to contribute anything to the war besides moral to the Krogan. So curing it gives two things based on winning or losing. If the Repear war is won, you now have a fully cured Krogan spread through out a galaxy that lost significan military and infrastructure. There is also no fucking way for a second that I believe Wrex and Eve can control 10 billion Krogan. So winning the war will most likely lead to another Krogan rebellion without adding a single tangible resource to the Reaper war. Second, if they lose the war and are cured....well, congradulations. You just added a few billion babies to get killed by the reapers.

So yeah, I killed Mording and lied to the Krogan about being cured so I could get their help. Then when Wrex confronted me about cheating him and he threatened to pull the Krogan? I killed him too. But guess what? He should have recalled his forces before he confronted me, because he died before he could follow through on his thrreat. In the end, I got the Krogan to help me on Earth (led by Grunt who if you belive him from ME2, likes the genophage) and tricked them into thinking they are cured.

Yes I am a monster.

Man, if I totally knew

killing Wrex but keeping the Krogan

was an option I would have taken it in a heartbeat.
Time to replay it I suppose.